Hi Ed,
Gerard was doing a VKFF, lord knows what time it must have been in New South Wales?
73 Mike
Theyāre UTC +11 at the moment, so at 13:30 that would be half past midnight in NSW - he must have been out camping if he was doing a parks activation.
1 Like
K Index now down to ZERO and SFI up to 79.
2 Likes
May be able to get out and do something local. WX is not good north. Maybe do Gun
73 Mike
Saw you spotted and you worked Kevin AC2KL just before he called me - well done on getting out - Iāll add you back into my spreadsheet of alerted stations - I removed you when it said actication unlikely.
73 Ed.
1 Like
Yep, VK2IO texted me at midnight for an 80m contact from the 8 point summit I was camped on.
Heās keen!!
Compton
VK2HRX
1 Like
My activation of Gun G/SP-013 Thursday, 24/11. Not a nice day for activating. The summit was cold and windy, with the temperature at about 3C.
I started on the 20m band and my very first call was George N1GB, followed in by four more North Americans. There was quite a run of EU calls before Dow W4DOW, got through from Virginia. The EU stations continued, mixed with North America. Really good to hear Sylvia OE5YYN with a big signal, many thanks for the call! Nice to get Rob G7LAS, John G1STQ and Dave M6RUG on groundwave.
Things dried up on 20m and so I took a look at 17m. After Saturdays NA/EU day, this band proved to be a big disappointment with just six contacts, only one of them North America, Pat KI4SVM in South Carolina.
A final visit to 20m and my third call was from John VK6NU in Perth. This was a tricky contact, nevertheless, we exchanged signal reports. I worked a few more EU contacts when John VK6NU, called me back at about 1450z only this time, an easy copy. Many thanks for the
great contact and chat, John. A few more EU contacts were logged, before the final DX of the day, Michael K3SAE from Pennsylvania.
Thanks to all the callers. 81 contacts logged. 67 Europe,13 North America and 1 VK.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
2 Likes
Sounds Brilliant - quick question - what antenna and how much power? ( In effect what might I have to do to have such a good activation? ) 73 Paul
SFI going up nicely and K so low that I wondered if I had the antenna connected on 20 metres!
I believe we are due a CME hit at any time now, if itās not already happened - which may explain the difficulty I am seeing hearing stations that I would normally expect to hear at the moment.
But at least the SFI is coming up!
73 Ed.
It is interesting that with the SN at 62 the SFI is only 84!
Brian
Thatās why I am sat freezing here struggling to make qsos!
I might have got you on five but I had been dragged out kicking and screaming to do Xmas shopping!
ok lads! great o to see your reactions for today because I was planning to post the same question!
I almost failed the activation and I was using my douplet zepp for the first time!
I didnāt know that was wrong!!! LOL
I think youāll find the sky is crying. The effect is you sit at sub-zero temps and make 10 QSOs. The sun was shining though.
This will make you feel better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s9M-52fRGU
1 Like
for my greek frozen a$$ ā¦the 3-4 degrees even with sunny weather were more than I could handle!! hehehe
after 20minutes I had 5 (maybe 4 valid will see) contact the last 5 minutes!
Iāve never seen frozen ground midday with sunny conditions 
It happens! In places during the 1947 freeze the ground got frozen to a depth of six feet! In 1963 it only managed a measly four feet. Pray that global warming will prevent us from ever seeing that again!
Brian
@G8ADD well that can be good and bad (not seeing it again coz of warming)
btw @G8ADD and @DD5LP talked about propagation in a bit more detail, I know ARRL has a couple of books that describe factors and relationships but is there a online source where I can do some reading?
Short activation and band conditions report, Gun G/SP-013 Friday 16/Dec/2016
Well, after almost 3 weeks of no SOTA, it was time to put my backside in gear.
Iād alerted for 0800z and couldnāt make up my mind where to go. In the end, I opted for G/SP-013 Gun. The track was in a bad state, a total mud plug, so donāt even think about attempting this one in trainers, you wonāt get past the gate.
For the DXāers, thereās not much point in being QRV before 0800z at the moment, nevertherless, I chose to ignore my own advice and was QRV at 0740z. A self spot on 20m SSB and the first 20 minutes produced just four calls, before John ZL1BYZ, gave me a shout at 0800z. Not easy, but signal reports were exchanged, A further 3 EU contacts were made and then Jacky ZL1TZW called in.
The EU traffic picked up and came in a lot faster than I anticipated with the Greeks leading the way. Six SV stations were worked including Ī§ĻĪ®ĻĻĪæĻ Christos SV2OXS, with the best of them, John SV3AQR, a QRPāer, working with just 800 milliwattsā¦
At about 0820, I gave John ZL1BYZ a shout to see if he was still by the frequency. He came back for a chat only this time an armchair copy.
The only other DX I worked all morning was Igor RM9RZ from Asiatic Russia. Thanks to the VKās who were listening, not one made my log, just no propagation to Australia today.
Many thanks to John and Jacky in New Zealand, for saving the day on the DX front.
69 contacts logged
58 contacts on 20m SSB.
I even put the colinear up for half an hour for 11 contacts on 2m FM.
Thanks to all the callersā¦
73 Mike
2E0YYY
5 Likes
Hello Mike,
Thanks for the report. I have not been around on the radio for a few days (garden etc. etc.) ā¦
So well done indeed.
[quote=ā2E0YYY, post:299, topic:11471ā]
_John SV3AQR, a QRPāer, working with just 800 milliwattsā¦ _
At about 0820, I gave John ZL1BYZ a shout to see if he was still by the frequency. He came back for a chat only this time an armchair copy.
[/quote]
Night night
Mike
1 Like
Quick activation and band report G/SP-017 Billinge Hill Wednesday 1/02/2017.
This was my first activatin for weeks and when the alarm went off at 0500 local time if I had any sense, I would have turned overā¦ it was pouring down. When I left home, It rained relentlessy for the entire 70 minute journey to Billinge Hill.
Nevertheless, when I arrived at the parking spot, I decided to make the short 15 minute journey to the summit anyway. While I was setting up in the dark the rain began to ease and so I figured I would tough it out.
As usual, Iād taken the Antron-99 and bungeed it to the fence by the trig point. At 0728z I self spotted on the 20m band and and put out a CQ.
The band was utter garbage and I spent a shade over one hour begging, before my first contact of the morning,Tony G0KXW gave me a call. Tony was followed by a s2s with Stavros SY2BIK and Christos SV2OXS both Activating SV/TL-090. Things livened up a little with a run of Eastern Europeans. At 0857z John ZL1BYZ finally broke the DX drought for my one and only DX contact on the 20m band. We had a chat for about 5 minutes, before I pressed on.
At about 1000z, I was pretty much fed up with 20m and decided to take a look at 17m. There were one or two stations that I could hear and so I found myself a QRG, and self spotted. After about 20 minutes of calling, I had logged just half a dozen contacts, before Bob VP8LP called in from the Falklands with an armchair copy, my only DX on the band. A further five contacts were worked on 17m, when I finally I chucked the towel inā¦
Very tough conditions on the higher frequencies this morning 
Just 43 contacts for the activation.
31 on 20m
12 on 17m
Thanks to all the callers
Mike 2E0YYY
3 Likes